Beech, 51, known in media reports as Nick, told detectives he was abused by politicians, army top brass, security chiefs and Jimmy Savile in the 1970s and 80s.

Revealed: how Carl Beech, the serial child abuse accuser, became the accused

Read more

The Metropolitan police launched a £2m investigation, Operation Midland, into his allegations, which collapsed after 16 months with no arrest being made.

Northumbria police launched a subsequent investigation to determine whether Beech had perverted the course of justice, which cost the force £1,109,068, but it has emerged the Met reimbursed £951,982 of the bill, the Times reported.

The Met is under increasing pressure to investigate the way its officers handled the investigation into Beech’s claims.

Sir Richard Henriques is calling for a criminal inquiry after he said Met officers unlawfully obtained search warrants by using false evidence to raid the homes of high-profile figures during their inquiry into Beech’s allegations.

The retired judge, whose 2016 review found a catalogue of failings, said detectives described Beech as consistent, misleading a judge into issuing search warrants to raid the homes of the D-day veteran Edwin Bramall, the widow of the former home secretary Leon Brittan and the former Conservative MP Harvey Proctor.

Former Tory MP Harvey Proctor at Newcastle crown court for the sentencing of Carl Beech last month. Photograph: Danny Lawson/PA

In a statement issued on Tuesday, the Met maintained it had been found to have acted lawfully and pledged to publish a more complete version of the Henriques report.

The Met’s deputy commissioner, Sir Stephen House, said: “The impact of Carl Beech’s false allegations and the Operation Midland investigation on many people has been truly dreadful and damaging to them and their families. The then commissioner, Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe, apologised in person to those most affected by the case. We remain deeply sorry.

“The MPS commissioned Sir Richard Henriques to undertake a review of Operation Midland because we were determined to learn lessons about our handling of the investigation. The MPS has already embedded the majority of Sir Richard’s recommendations in our working practices.

“As a result of Sir Richard’s report, we voluntarily referred ourselves to the Independent Police Complaints Commission. This referral included the applications for search warrants. We fully cooperated with the IPCC (and the now IOPC) independent investigation which lasted more than two years and, having examined all the evidence, did not identify any criminal offences or misconduct. The IPCC/IOPC was the appropriate body to conduct this investigation.

“The MPS has already published a redacted version of Sir Richard’s report pending the investigation and subsequent trial of Carl Beech. We will publish as full a version of the report as possible, as soon as we can, now proceedings are complete.”

Beech was jailed for 18 years last week after being found guilty of 12 counts of perverting the course of justice and one of fraud following a 10-week trial.